Jane Levy talks about the second season of Zoey’s extraordinary playlist

NBC’s musical comedy Zoey’s extraordinary playlist, in which Zoey Clarke, head of Jane Levy, suddenly sees her friends, family and co-workers singing and dancing numbers that capture her monologues and inner emotions, is not exactly like anything else on television. It is a wonderfully extravagant and moving work, anchored by Levy’s remarkable commitment to the concept. With each episode, she has to sell a bizarre premise while balancing many different tones in a show that addresses material as serious as grieving the loss of one parent – while serving as a karaoke machine for music pop. Before the premiere of tonight’s second season on NBC, Levy spoke to Vulture about this tightrope show, giving us a preview of what to expect in the second season and discussing some important moments from the first season.

You recently said about Twitter that the first season episode “Zoey’s Extraordinary Glitch” is your favorite thing you’ve ever done. Let’s start there. Why is that?
I can do a lot in those 42 minutes or in any time. I can sing and dance, as well as farcical comedy, as well as really sad and heartbreaking romance and drama, all while singing pop songs and Christmas songs. I can dance on the tables. I can be kissed by John Clarence Stewart. Personally, this kind of work is what I love to do as an actress, which is … I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s my sensitivity. It’s my taste. And I feel like I did a great job at that.

It kind of distills the whole show in its wide range. It’s scary? Or is that fear what you want?
I had a ton of anxiety last year, especially before that episode. I’m not a trained dancer or singer, and that’s a lot to do. Before we shot “Mom Kissing Santa,” I thought: This is one of those times when, if I don’t commit 100 percent, it will be very bad. And I did. And I remember leaving the set so embarrassed, and everyone was like, “It’s really funny”, and I was like, “I don’t know if it’s funny. I think people think this is funny ”. My barometer is wrong, I think, in what it is like to do something internally and how it appears. You have to really trust your collaborators, and I trust Austin [Winsberg, creator] and Mandy [Moore, choreographer] and Jon [Turteltaub, director]. This show was very spooky. I just felt like a lot was on my shoulders, and if I didn’t do it right, it wouldn’t work. All my previous anxiety, especially anticipatory, was at its highest level.

It must be difficult to know how people will react to this, since musical theater is typically driven by an instant response. How to make such a wide musical number for the cast and crew, with no idea how it will play for a wider audience, looks different?
Everyone supports me incredibly, but I am a person who tends not to believe in praise. This is turning into therapy! [Laughs.]

Many of them have this year. Trust me.
It is a good question. Yes, it is difficult to evaluate at the moment. That’s why there are directors. I am someone who, as an actress, I think directors are her most important collaborators and allies. Jon Turteltaub, who directed this episode, I loved it very much. We connect very quickly. He has such a wicked sense of humor. I trust him. This is his episode.

Zoey is the only one who can see other people singing, so her reactions are crucial to the scene. How do you keep watching interesting performances? How do you make sure you don’t overdo it while she’s listening or so soft as to appear distant?
From the beginning, I kind of created something that wasn’t entirely in the script, which is like a bodily sensation when people sing. I think the key to this show – and what was so exciting when I first read the script – is the device that takes you to the musical numbers. It is not traditional in the sense that the characters suddenly feel so much that they need to start singing. It’s like a mental illness or a superpower or whatever happens through Zoey. I think of Zoey as a projector, and she designs the music. I know it’s a little intoxicating when I talk about it.

I like it. You have a lot of emotional responses to what you’re watching, especially if it’s your dad or one of the guys, so it plays.
From my point of view, it’s like the audience could be Zoey. And through Zoey, you experience music the way Zoey does. For that to happen, Jane needs to have an experience. For me, I have planned for these songs to come out of Zoey. Everything is happening in your brain. I think the way it doesn’t get boring is that I can actually watch people perform in front of me. I’m watching my incredibly talented castmates perform. Each is different. Each song is different. I am very affected by music, which I think most people are. The music is playing when I’m watching. I’m always thinking about Zoey’s journey and her bow and where she is in those numbers. They are songs of the heart. They are going to teach Zoey something she has to do. She has to act according to the things she hears, and that is part of listening.

What is your favorite musical number from the first season?
“American Pie” [from the season-one finale] comes to mind. It’s such a beautiful way to end the season, and incredible work by Mandy Moore, and our cast, and our ADs and filmmaker. It was an incredible collaboration to achieve that.

Have you managed to put a song you like on the show? Do they take orders?
This is where I’m going to have problems, because I will say that Austin listens to some cast members more than others [laughs]. He doesn’t listen to me. There’s your title [laughs].

Is there a reason? Have you ever tried to get into something really obscure?
Honestly, I don’t suggest songs that often. It’s not really my wheelhouse. I try to stay in my lane. I feel like I know a lot about acting, but not about musical theater and not about pop music. I’m trying to think. No, I don’t think any songs that I have requested have made it. Wait, this is not true! I suggested something that is in the second season. I suggested Nina Simone to one of the characters and we did.

You mentioned that you have no experience in musical theater, but you have legends on set in the first season, like Bernadette Peters and Renée Elise Goldsberry. What have you learned or learned from these appearances from people who know a lot about what you are doing here?
We also have Alex [Newell] and Skylar [Astin], the regulars, so I think they attracted Renée and Bernadette. We were all paved that they were both willing to come as guests on our show. Austin was very impressed with Renée. Most of our songs are pre-recorded and we all synchronize our lips with them on set because it’s easier that way. You sound better in the studio than on the set. Bernadette came in and said, “Nah, I’m just going to sing.” And she sang every time. It was chills all over the body. Open mouth. I couldn’t believe it was happening. And such a lovely person. I remember thinking, If these people want to do that, it might be a good thing.

Let’s talk a little bit about the second season. You kind of missed a centerpiece with Peter [Gallagher]. Were you worried about how to get out of that arch without having that center?
Yes, absolutely. Thank goodness I’m not the show’s writer [laughs].

Did they break in a way that works for you, without spoiling?
Yes. We are still in the middle of filming, which is interesting because last year, when the first season was released, we were basically ready. So it’s interesting to start pressing right in the middle of it because sometimes it’s really hard to see – how I was talking, like when I’m performing, I can’t say whether something falls or not. While we’re doing it, I’m still in the zone of creating, discovering and exploring. It’s just different. Not only did we lose Peter, Zoey loses Joan’s mentor in the first episode. This does not mean that Lauren [Graham] she will never return, but at the beginning of the second season, she lost two essential people who guided her. I feel really bad for Zoey. Let’s see your fight against that.

And two strong accountants for you as performers in Peter and Lauren. I’m not trying to make you anxious, but were you concerned with how to replace these giant papers in a set? How do you overcome this anxiety? Just trust the team?
For me, it was less anxiety and more sadness. I really felt sad because I loved these characters so much. I think if I watched the show and wasn’t part of it, I think Joan could have been my favorite character. She’s so strange and kind of unbalanced, but the relationship between her and Zoey is so sweet. I was sad that I didn’t have these two actors to work with. Both are so moving for me. They are so generous. I feel very close to both.

It is always interesting to watch when a creative team has to rebuild itself after losing important pieces.
Yes, it is very interesting in my position as Zoey because I am not a producer. I’m in almost every scene from the first season, but I’m not really part of the process in terms of creating the show. I’m a hired actor. I love this show so much and I’m continually talking to Mandy and Austin. In terms of crafting the second season and Zoey’s arc, I have nothing to say about it. I hope one day to be able to produce shows.

Speaking of production, what is it like to shoot a show in a post-COVID world? It is not exactly a two-handed game. It is a program that requires a lot of interaction, so how has it been?
I was really afraid to enter this year. Like everyone else, I was sitting at my house with my boyfriend for five months. Lionsgate hired this team of scientists and doctors to keep us safe. I have never felt more fortunate in my life than this year, just because I can go to work and do what I love and get paid for it. I feel so incredibly lucky to do this show, to do this role, and then to do it while this pandemic … I am extremely grateful. It’s a little weird that I spend more hours a day being Zoey than Jane, so it’s a little weird to operate like there’s not been a pandemic for so many hours. And then we shout “cut” and the masks go and you go to your secluded area. It’s a little bit bizarre, but I also feel very lucky to be able to do that.

The show doesn’t address any of that, right?
Do not.

So it’s like entering a world where you don’t exist in half your time. It must be strange.
It’s very good, to be honest. When we started the first episode, there was a scene where Mary [Steenburgen] and I hug in the kitchen, and the minute we touch, we, like, freeze and start laughing and almost start to cry from touching another human being.

It seems to me a little bit that the show may be more popular now than when the first season ended. It seems like a fan base is growing, even if it’s not on the air, as people update Hulu or Peacock. Why do you think it is growing?
Because we’re running out of content! [Laughs.] We have to watch something. No. I don’t know. It is the first time that I hear this idea.

Did you see some of year-end compliments. Is it just a factor in more people writing about it?
Perhaps. When we were doing this show, we were doing a show about a woman in mourning. We didn’t know when it was announced that we would be going through a mass collective mourning process. That way, it’s been amazing. I was thinking a lot about our show yesterday. Something I’ve been thinking about a lot this fall. At times when I’m like, This is very difficult and I’m tired and I don’t want to go through this now, I really think of everyone in the world now. If we can offer some kind of joy or catharsis or joy or laughter or even a good cry to someone sitting at home, that would mean all for me. That is the reason why I do this job.